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Hi to all

I am a relative newbie to the HVAC field. Unfortunately where I work, I seem to be the top tech, so when I have a little trouble, there is no where for me to turn. Hoping to learn from others experience here to be the best I can be for my customers. I am a recent graduate with an Associate's in Applied Sciences Degree majoring in HVAC and have been in the field for about 5 months now. I love troubleshooting and hate preventive maintenance. Happy to be here and hope to see y'all in the threads

If you hate preventative maintenance, then you're not doing it right, because I get a great sense of satisfaction knowing that the preventative work I do increases the reliability of my customers' equipment, which in turn makes me and my company look good, which makes them more likely to get more business and more likely to pay me more... If you take care of someone's machine and do a good job, they won't even consider calling anyone else when it's time to replace it. Just my $.02

The part I hate about it where some of the air handlers are installed. It seems like if you know a piece of equipment will need to be serviced every 6 months, then you wouldn't put it such a crazy place. It seems like much of these units were installed by someone who figured no one would ever need to see it again.

Well, that's just an unfortunate fact of life in this industry. Sometimes contractors will just install things wherever they can without regard to future servicability. Sometimes engineers will not design the job with servicability in mind, or they do not have an accurate idea of what the system's future maintenance requirements will be or the unintended consequences of it's location.

It's not as much of an issue in commercial HVAC, Refrigeration, and Controls as it is in Residential... But it's still an issue that pops up every once in a while. Sometimes, you have to be a bit of a contortionist.

tight spots is what separates the men from the boys. besides thats where you get to make recommendations and talk about upgrades. you must not be making commission on sales. I feel like a kid in treasure hunt everytime I get to look at a new job.

If you mean like a sieve then I agree, since men are typically larger than boys. Besides, the way it works at my company is the owner sells them, then leaves it up to the duct crew to install them, and the tech gets stuck with whatever is left. I know it is a bad way to do it, but in a small town with a company that has been run by a family for several decades with little to no competition, it is not my place nor opportunity to change such things. In all honesty with the economy the way it is around here, I am just happy to have a decent job and I want to do it as best as I can, and learn as much as I can, until I am comfortable with sticking my own neck out there. In a small southern town that is the only way to ever make a decent living in a skilled trade such as this. Mainly because business owners dont seem to care about hiring and keeping the best, just about hiring whatever they need to get by. I think they get away with it because no one truly knows what quality is, from the consumer to most workers to most business owners. I run into the same thing in the residential construction industry where I worked before the housing market crashed, which is when I decided to go to school for HVAC. I know that's a little long winded and maybe off topic, but I hope it gives you a better perspective of where I am coming from.